Long time coming...

Okay, so it's been awhile since I've written. I think it's mostly ennui (love that word, especially since I've only recently discovered it) from thinking: No one's commenting! No one's reading! I'm alone in the blogsphere! And no matter how true those thoughts may be, I should keep writing so that more people will read and send more people this way etc. etc. etc.

I've had a lot of fascinating and unusual experiences in my young/short life, one of which was seeing Greece. I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but thanks to a friend who lent me his minor memory cards, I was able to take some...

This was the sunset from the Thessaloniki Airport... right as we arrived... It was beautiful and exciting.

I love this pic because of the shades of blue in none other than the AGEAN SEA!!! That was definitely one of the thrills of the trip: seeing the Agean Sea...

This was the amphitheatre at Philippi. We tested the acoustics, and they worked perfectly! We were able to hear one of the quieter guys of the group speaking from way up in the stands... it was soooooo cool.

That's just a little bit about it... I'll certainly be writing more later!

For now, though, I need to go to bed! My sisters and I have a big day planned for tomorrow...

Bar Soap: A Rant in Favor

It has recently, and rather forcibly, been brought to my attention that some people object to using bar soap. The reason given is that evidently, bar soap is "germy and gross." Being strongly in favor of economy when practical, I bristled at the thought that my 3-for-less-than-a-dollar bars of soap were somehow inferior to the 1-for-a-dollar bottles of liquid soap. This bristling was particularly stiff because in my previous (similar) living situation, I introduced the bars of soap at the beginning of the school year, and there was still lathering soap left from the three original bars at the end of the year; whereas the year before, I observed that the liquid pump soap was used ineffeciently, dispensing much more soap than needed for one good lather, and quickly was used up. Even using bulk refills was not nearly as cost efficient as the bars of soap were the next year. I will freely admit, announce, whatever, that there was always a bottle of liquid soap on the counter for the few who preferred to use the pump soap. When someone who lives in the same spaces as I began to fuss against bar soap, claiming that "you can't put a price on your health," I decided to do some research online. I discovered that even the websites which aren't entirely in favor of bar soap will admit in the spirit of fairness that bar soap really isn't bad.
Here are the links, reader, so you can decide for yourself and respond:
http://www.slate.com/id/2156843/
http://www.plentymag.com/events/2007/07/dont_drop_the_bar_soap.php
http://chetday.com/antibacterialsoapdanger.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=DywVZQ9aPDYC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=bar+soap+dangers&source=web&ots=1UDVDWRXY6&sig=EMpn_-PhUSnQ4BQonCqBMPDPSWk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result (for this one, keep reading past the gap in words)
http://conqueringthechallenge.blogspot.com/2007/08/health-and-beauty-dangers-of-common.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-washing/HQ00407 (Few, if any, health organizations are as respected as the Mayo Clinic)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/science/10qna.html?_r=2&em&ex=1184558400&en=6df09bb56620f543&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Our Story Begins

Today I was writing in my journal for Creative Writing, using word pictures I had been forming earlier and avoiding doing real schoolwork that really needs to be done (and still needs to be done). I later showed it to my sister, and aside from commenting that she couldn't read my handwriting too well, she stated: "You should blog." So I thought about it... I love to talk (trust me on this one... or find out for yourself), and I love to write. My dream is to be a popular published novelist... probably in reverse order... novelist... who gets published... whose books become popular... The title of the blog comes from the fact that (I'll mention it again) I love to chat. Hence: Miss Chatters. The signoff... well, I'll let you learn that along the way...

I should warn you that I'll be mostly writing in my ink-and-paper journal at least until December, but I'll probably use this as a great way to procrastinate... So until next time, Adieu.